Tapo Magna Krishna (Medhini)

"palumAru cirakAlamu paramAtmuni pAdamulanu" - thus started Sri T.M.Krishna's concert yesterday at the fort high school grounds. He was accompanied by Sri H.N Baskar, Arun Prakash and Purushottam on violin, mridanga and khanjira respectively. This gave a lightening start to the concert after a heavy rain on a Saturday evening. Tyagaraja's mAyAmALavagauLa kriti concluded with neraval and swaras at sarasiruha punnaga.

The next song - Tyagaraja's Ela nidayarada also started at anupallavi bAlakanakamaya after a short sketch of atANa.

This was followed by a short raga delineation of kalyAni. The song that followed was a composition of Pu.Ti.Narasimhachar, a famous Kannada poet and playwright. The lyrics of the song - 'nagna vipina nagna gagana tapo magna medhini' describes mother nature in winter. The chill of winter has rendered the forest (vipina) and the skies (gagana) naked. 'Manju musukida biLichidaLila madhu mAdhava garbhiNi', describing how nature becomes pregnant after the chilling winter and gives birth to varied life forms, was taken up for nerval. The song, sung in slow tempo, was rendered superbly. It was remarkable effort to sing a Kannada poem in a classical concert with such authority and weight, breaking the monotonous nature of a Carnatic concert, filled with compositions on Gods and Goddesses. Hope it sets a trend to explore more poems, with varied themes like nature, art , culture, history, etc and adapt them to classical music. The song concluded with swaras sung in the chowka kala. Check out a TV program clipping of the song below.






A brisk Ora jUpu jUcEdi nyAyamA in kannada gouLa composed by Tyagaraja was the next one to follow.

Then came a scholarly elaboration of kAmbhoji with a equally skilled reply from Bhaskar. Dikshitar's shrI subrahmaNyAya namaste was sung brilliantly with neraval at vAsavAdi sakaladEva vanditAya varENya. Tani followed the nerval skipping the swaras. This was a bit of disappointment for TMK fans like me who were probably eagerly waiting for some breathtaking swara prastaras.
The organizers wanted to honor the artists with customary speech after this but TMK requested to move it to the end.

RIthigauLa was chosen for RTP. The highlight was the taana, which was sung in all ghana ragas concluding in RIthigauLa . Then each ghana raga was taken in order - nAta, gauLa, Arabhi, varALi, shrI and coming back to RIthigauLa. At this stage I was wondering how a percussion accompaniment would add more color to this. It was as if Arun Prakash heard my thoughts, and started playing mridnaga for taana, but it was almost at the concluding part. The pallavi - dasharatha bAlarAmachandrayya dayanidhE mAm pAhi - set to khanda jAti tripuTa taLa was short and was decorated by swaras in hameer kalyAni spanning four complete octaves. A very short second tani of the concert concluded the RTP.

jANarO, a jAvali in kamach, Sadaashiva Brahmendra's broohi mukundhEthi in jhanjhooti, Tulsidas's bhajan - sri rAmachandra krupALu bhajamana in yaman kalyani were the next ones to follow. TMK requested everyone to stand up and concluded by singing the National Anthem. The artists were honored by Captain Gopinath.

Overall it was a superb, awe-inspiring concert, with lots of innovation, opening avenues to unexplored frontiers.

D K Pattammal - a humble tribute to the great soul

Last year when I was wading through internet for the Viriboni varnam, I found many renditions. But the one that stuck my imagination immediately was the one that was sung by you. I felt, we the younger generation, were not fortunate enough to listen to you in live concerts. However, I do consider myself blessed to have listened to your recordings.

You have many firsts to your credit. When women were confined to household, you brought about revolution by being the first Brahmin woman to have performed Carnatic music publicly, both on stage and on air.

You not only entered the male strong hold of Raga-Tana-Pallavi singing but also conquered it by your indepth renditions.

You were the undisputed authority on Dikshitar's compositions.

Seeing your interview, I wonder how even at this ripe age, you are so young at heart. Your face has the innocence of a child.






No doubt this interview would have brought tears to many eyes. I wonder how a person dignified as one of the female trinities of Carnatic Music can be so humble.

The saukhyam in your singing and your melodious voice are evident in this video.



There are no words to desribe your involvement and dedication in National anthem sung by you. I salute your patriotism.



Mother India is grateful to have had a daughter like you. Your sweet voice will always remain immortal in our hearts.

Lightning tODi, thundering kIravAni, pouring naLinakAnti

Finally I could drag this out of the draft state after 4 days. Thanks to poll holiday. I had an amazing weekend with three instrumental concerts on successive days.

Friday, April 17th

Violin Duet: Lalgudi G.J.R. Krishnan & Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi
Mridanga: P. Satish Kumar
Kanjira: Amruth N.

1. pancha mAtanga mukha gaNapati - malahari – rUpaka – Muthuswamy Dikshit (s)
2. nEnendu vetukudura - karnaTaka kApi – Adi - Tyagaraja
3. nannu viDachi – ritigaula – mischra chApu –Tyagaraga (a)
4. paripAphimAm shri raGupate – kannada – Adi – Mysore Vasudevachar (a,s)
5. nine nammitinayya – simhendramadhyama – mischra chApu - Mysore Vasudevachar (a,n,s)
6. munupE teliyaka pOyenA - bangALa - Adi - Tyagaraja
7. koluvamare kadA – tODi – Adi – Tyagaraja (a,n,s,t)
8. RTP – Bhimpalas – mischra tripuTa tishra gati
pallavi - Bhajare sada mAnasa shri rAGavam mAdhavam followed by swaras in shahana, kAnada, nAsikAbhushiNi, bindumAlini
9. mAmava mAdhava - nIlAmbari - Adi - Narayana Teertha
10. bAro Krishnayya - rAgamAlika - Adi - Kanakadasa
11. tillana - madhuvanti - Adi - Lalgudi G Jayaraman

Nanu vidachi was very touching. For the first time I heard a alapana in kannada raga. It was simply outstanding. Simhendramadhayama was elaborated very beautifully by Vijayalakshmi. She also sang the pallavi a couple of times. The tani was awesome especially Amruth got lots of applause from the audience. After the RTP, artists were honored and the speaker described the concert as “110% pure Carnatic music”

Saturday, April 18th

Mandolin Duet: U Srinivas & U. Rajesh
Violin: H K Venkatram
Mridanga:Yella Venkateshwara Rao
Kanjira:Guru Prasanna

1. viriboNi – bhairavi – atta – Adiyappaiyar
2. mahAgaNapati – nAta – Adi – Muthuswamy Dikshit (s)
3. nAdOpAsana – begaDa – Adi – Tyagaraja
4. shrirAmapAdama – amrutavAhini – Adi – Tyagaraja
5. sogasuga mridanga tALamu – shriranjini – rUpaka – Tyagaraja (a,s)
6. nenedu vedakudura - karnataka kApi - Adi Tyagaraja
7. raGuvamsha sudha – kadanakutUhala – Adi – Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer
8. kaligiyunte kada - kIravAni - Adi - Tyagaraja (a,n,s,t)
9. enta muddo - bindumAlini - Adi - Tyagaraja
10. jagadOddarana – kApi – Adi – Purandaradasa
11. jagajjanani – ratipatipriya – Adi – Ghanam Krishna Iyer

Srinivas introduced all artists on the stage before the commencing the concert. I found it as very good gesture. I wonder why its not a general practice as it hardly takes a minute. He had a pile of requests from the audience and he announced he would play all of them.

Viriboni was played in 3 speeds very well. After the magnificent kIravAni and an equally brilliant tani, all seemed to be looking for someone to pickup the mic for the ceremonial speech. But as there seemed to be no one, Srinivas started the soothing enta muddo. Srinivas was presented a photograph, taken in 1981, of his concert at the same venue.

Sunday, April 19th

Violin Duet : Kumaresh & Ganesh
Mridanga: Harikumar B
Kanjira: Amruth N

1. jalajAkshi – hamsadhwani – Adi
2. mAkElara vicharamu - ravichandrika – Adi – Thyagaraja (s)
3. yOchana – darbar – Adi – Tyagaraja
4. hecchariga – yadukulakAmbhoji – Adi - Tyagaraja
5. dEva dEva jagadIshwara – pUrvikalyaNi – Adi – (r,s)
6. idu bhAgya idu bhAgya – hindOLa – Adi – Purandaradasa

It was preceeded by some experimental raga transitions which included ragas like shanmukhapriya, hamsadhwani, hindola. I am not sure if it was a demonstration of grahabhedam.

7. RTP – naLinakAnti - khanDa jati tripuTa
pallavi – sIta ramaNa raGurAmana raGu rAmachandrana polgaLi pADi Bajisi namipe
swaras – saveri, varali, natakuranji, ranjini, kApi, rEvati, shivaranjini and many more.

It was followed by honours. The songlist after this is incomplete as they played one song after (or even within) the other with little gap.

8. jagadOddarana – kApi- Adi - Purandaradasa
9. mAnasa sanchararE – sAma – Adi - Sadashiva Brahmendra
10. rAmabhadra rA rA – AnandaBairavi - Adi – Bhadrachala Ramadasa
11. vara chidambara natam hridi bhaje
12. bHaLi bHaLi rAma – kalyANi – Adi - Annamayya
13. tambUri mItidava – sindhu bhairavi – Adi - Purandaradasa
14. bhagyAdalakshmi baramma - shri - Adi - Purandaradasa

Ganesh sang the pallavi lines a couple of times and the complete songs #11 and #12.

A peculiar observation was that, Bangalore rains seemed to be attracted o RTP. On both Friday and Sunday, it rained heavily during RTP.


As I post this, I am waiting eagerly for Mysore brothers violin duet the day after.

PS: On a different n(v)ote, please dont forget to exercise your franchise today as I have already done and participate in making a positive difference.

Nagashree's performance at Yavanika

Last Friday, Nagashree performed at Yavanika as part of the EFCEP. Below is the review from The Hindu which described the performance as evocative.

Nagashree’s performance was evocative
The Every Friday Cultural Evening Programme at Yavanika, Bangalore, held last week under the joint auspices of the Department of Kannada and Culture and the ICCR, featured a Bharatanatya recital by Nagashree Sathvik. She was accompanied by Nagashree K.S. (nattuvanga), Vasudha Balakrishna (vocal), Natarajamurthy (violin), and Ramesh (mridanga).

The first segment of the performance comprised the invocatory piece, “Gajavadana Beduve” set to Hamsadhwani raga and aditala, and alarippu. The artiste acquitted herself creditably in a rendition, of moderate length, of the varna beginning ‘Kolamayil Vahanane’ in Shanmukhapriya raga and aditala, which depicted Subrahmanya as the slayer of Narakasura, the granter of boons, and Valli’s lord.

An evocative and imaginative visual representation based on D.V. Gundappa’s immortal verses on the shilabalikas of the temple at Belur, was followed by Papanasam Sivan’s krithi in Keeravani, “Devi Neeye Thunai” on the divine consort of Lord Sundareswara. The devarnama “Kandu Dhanyanade” in Sindhubhairavi on the attributes and exploits of Lord Krishna featured beautiful choreography well executed, while the ashtapadi “Nindathi Chandanam” in Darbari Kanada was an effective portrayal of Radha’s abject longing for Krishna. The concluding piece, a tillana in Bilahari raga and aditala, displayed greater finesse and clarity in the nritta passages than the initial items of the performance.

Melodious and bhava soaked accompaniment from the vocalist Vasudha Balakrishna, complemented by excellent support from Nagashree K.S., Natarajamurthy and Ramesh, was definitely one of the highlights of the evening and contributed significantly to the success of the programme as a whole.

Link to aticle http://www.hindu.com/fr/2009/03/27/stories/2009032750970300.htm

RamaNavami Concert schedule at Fort HIgh school

April 2009

3rd - Inauguration followed by Dr.Kadri Gopalnath and party
4th - Smt Bombay Jayashri & party
5th - Dr. KJ Yesudoss
6th - Sri TV Sankaranarayanan
7th - (4-6.15 - Sri Kasim and Babu, Nadhaswaram) followed by Praveen Godkhindi
8th - Mambalam Sisters (715pm to 915)
9th - Smt M S Sheela
10th - Hyderabad Brothers
11th - Bangalore Sri. S Shankar
12th - morning - OS Arun, Evening - Ustad Amjad Ali Khan
13th - Mysore Smt. Nagamani Srinath
14th - Malladi Bros
15th- Sri. Sanjay Subramanyan
16th - Sri Unnikrishnan
17th- Lalgudi GJRK and Vijayalakshmi - violin duet
18th - Mandolin duet - U Shrinivas and U Rajesh
19th- Violin duet - Ganesh and Kumaresh
20th - Classical Fusion
21st - Smt Jayanthi Kumaresh - Veena
22nd - Flute duet - Anantharam and Amith nadig
23rd - Pattabhirama pandit
24th - Mysore Dr. Sukanya Prabhakar
25th - Violin Duet - Mysore Nagaraj and Dr. Manjunath
26th - Smts Ranjani and Gayathri
27th- Sri OS Thyagarajan
28th- Rudrapatnam Brothers
29th - Smt. Visaka Hari
30th - Anuradha Madhusudhan - Veena

May 2009

1st - Sri MSG and Smt Narmada - violin duet
2nd - Nedunuri Sri Krishnamurthy
3rd - Smt Sudha Raghunathan
4th - Sri Sankaran Namboodiri
5th - Sikkil Sri Gurucharan
6th - Sri Vijay Siva
7th- Sri Shashank - Flute
8th - Smt Nithyasree
9th - Chithraveena - Sri Ravikiran
10th - Dr M Balamurali krishna

ನಾದೋಪಾಸಕಿಗೆ ಶುಭಾಶಯಗಳು

ಗಾನ ಸರಸ್ವತಿ ಗಂಗೂಬಾಯಿ ಹಾನಗಲ್ ಅವರಿಗೆ ೯೭ನೆ ವಸಂತದ ಹಾರ್ದಿಕ ಶುಭಾಶಯಗಳು

Yamini - From Malkauns to Bhairavi

"Yamini meaning ‘Night’ is that night that descends on Bengalooru, gently, slowly, to the mellifluous notes of music and the gentle rhythm of feet. It is the night when the clouds above, part to reveal the star spangled banner of the dark skies. When Yamini is on you wake up to your inner self and dissolve in the shower of music and dance. From Malkauns to Bhairavi, from dusk to dawn, the night of revelation prevails." - reverberated the Yamini site as if trying to lure not only avid connoisseurs of Indian classical dance and music but also the pedestrian listeners.

My wife and I reached the venue just in time for the musical extravaganza. Having arrived late, I could finally get a parking place. There were about 500, no about 1000, may be, I am no expert in counting. But there was a huge crowd. The inaugural address and lighting of the lamp by IIMB director kick started Yamini.

The first concert of the day, err night, was a vocal duet by Smt.Ranjini and Smt.Gayatri. They were accompanied by H N Bhaskar on the violin, Delhi Sairam on the mridanga and M A Kishnamurthy on the ghata.

The concert began with a thunderous rendering of Muttayya Bhagavatar's Gam Ganapate in raga Hamsadhwani set to Aditala. It was followed by a mellifluous rendering of Muttuswamy Dikshitar's Ranganayakam in Nayaki. The sudden change in mood was very well appreciated by the audience. The sisters' Pantuvarali raagaalapana which followed was spell bounding. Bhaskar's reply was too good and impressive. After the detailed exploration of Pantuvarali, Tyagaraja swamy's Raghuvara Nannu kriti was rendered. The highlight was the nerval at "manasuna nIkE marulukonnAnu", which translated means - “In my mind (manusuna), I am in love (marulukonnAnu) with You (nIkE)”

Such was the involvement of the sisters in the nerval that left me wondering whether it was possible to sing like so beautifully, with so much involvement unless one is experiencing it. The soulful rendition concluded with great swarakalpana from the sisters and the Bhaskar ofcourse. It was followed by

--> kandil Kuruti – Mukhari – Mischra chapu – Neelakanta Sivan

--> Vararaagalaya – ChenchuKambhoji – Adi – Tyagaraja

The highlight of the concert was the RTP in Kapi which followed. The pallavi -

"kaNNA vA maNi vaNNA vA kamala padam vaittu viraindODi vA”was set to khanda triputa tala. Kalpana swaras were rendered in raga - kamach, dEs, madhuvanti. It was followed by an excellent Tani avartanam.

After the tani, the duo sang the evergreen Purandaradasa composition Krishna nee begane baro in yamankalyan set to mischra chapu. The Hindustani style ending of the song with was greatly applauded the audience.

Before the last item, there was an interaction session. The sisters were quizzed about coordination and the effect of their violin training on vocal and vice versa. The sisters did admit that they do fight among themselves during practice sessions on various aspects and also on choice of songs

Some one in the audience suggested a Ranjini-Gayatri concert would be incomplete without an abhang. Probably the last song – an abhang – was something the sisters were unanimous in their selection.

The concert concluded with Sant Tukaram’s Abhang - PanDharisE Bhoot mOtE – in chandrakauns. The sisters explained that it was a nindastuti of the God Panduranga where he is critisized as a bhoot (ghost) who captured the soul of Tukaram when he visited Pandarapura and was never able to get back.

Violin Duet by Mysore Nagaraj and Dr. Mysore Manjunath was the next concert. They were accompanied by Neyveli Venkatesh on the Mridanga and M A Kishnamurthy on the Ghata.

They began their recital with Saint Tyagaraja’s famous kriti Saamajavaragamana in Hindola. The kalpana swaras were brisk and the highlight was the sawal jawab style play by Manjunath and percussionists starting with a full avartana and halving it till one akshara. After a roaring start they choose to play the slow haunting piece – Muttuswamy Dikshitar’s Akhilandeshwari in Dvijavanti. It was followed by an elaboration of Mohana raga by Nagaraj and they played Tyagaraja Swamy’s Nannu paalimpa. It was decorated with kalpana swaras in all the speeds one could imagine.

The crowed cheered in excitement when Nagaraj announced the next item. Yes it was Raaga sudhaarasa in AndhoLika.

It was followed by RTP in Shanmukhapriya. Raga and Tana were played elaborately the brothers. However, the pallavi was too short and they dived into the swaras. Swaras were also played in shahana,ranjani, sindhubhairavi.

The concert concluded with most famous bhajan - Raghupati raaghava raajaraam.

It was 00.30 am on 26th January. The temperature might some where near single digit in celcius. We, the audience, in an open air theater, were hiding in our blankets, shawls, sweaters with only our heads out. That was when Smt. Urmila Satyanarayan in typical Bharatnatyam attire entered the stage unperturbed by the freezing cold. Oh my God!! I was wondering how she can dance in such chilling weather that too in an open theater.

She began the recital with Pushpanjali followed by a composition in Faraz. The navarasas were depicted very superbly.

The main item was the Chaarukeshi varna composed by Sri Lalgudi G Jayaraman. The gist of the composition is Krishna crushing Radha's pride. Radha was very proud that the Lord Krishna liked her very much among all the gopis. Krishna wanted to crush her pride and asked her to join him for a stroll into the forest. When they had walked for a long distance, Radha wanted to test Krishna’s love for her and asked him to carry her as her feet were aching. Krishna agreed and bent down. As soon as Radha’s feet touched Krishna’s back, he vanished into thin air leaving her alone. Thus he crushed her pride.

It was followed by Jaavali – SarasamulaaDe in kapi. The song was filled with Sringara rasa. The gist of the song is the nayika is ridiculing the hero (Krishna) for showing his affection to her in a public place. The crowd admired the way in which the nayika blushed and exited the stage at the end of the piece.

The next piece was Tulasidas’ Bhajan -- Tumakachalat ramachandra in Mischra Kamach where the artist depicted a joyous Kausalya when her son Raama attempts to walk for the first time.

The penultimate item was the famous Bhagyada Lakshmi baramma and the recital concluded with a tillana in Tillang composed by Sri Lalgudi G Jayaraman.

The orchestra sounded a bit bland probably because of the preceding two concerts influence was still lingering in my mind.

The baansuri maestro Ronu Muzumdar took to stage at 2 am. There were some disturbances in the sound systems and adjustment went on half an hour. He started the concert with an alaap in Raag Abhogi Kaanada followed by a composition in roopak taal.

By 4 am my eyes seemed to be not cooperating and I decided to drive home before I slept at the wheel.

It was night out which was worth every second of it. It was truly the night of revelation.

Cheers to SPICMACAY. Hip Hip Hurray!!!